


Ragnarok

by Wickedrider98



Category: The Bastards Crew, The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Knives, Other, Stabbing, post Bifrost-Incident, pure unbridled angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-24 05:04:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19166389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wickedrider98/pseuds/Wickedrider98
Summary: Phantomness finds out what happened to her home planet





	Ragnarok

Ivy hadn't intended to show the black box to anyone. She'd smuggled it off New Midgard in the chaos, and decided it was too risky. Especially with Phantomness on board. She was one of the few Mechanisms that remembered her home planet fondly, or at all for that matter. How would she react to knowing the entire Yggdrasil system was lost to The Outer Gods? She'd intended to bury it deep in the Archives, so deeply under files and organized in the database with such complex coding that no one except her would ever be able to find it. There were some stories that not even her shipmates needed to know. But eventually Marius accidentally let it slip that she'd doubled back for the recording device, and suddenly she had Jonny demanding to see it. And for the sake of her Archives and her body not being filled with bullet holes, she indulged him. Ivy had at least managed to make him have the good sense to not play it when Phantomness was around, and the crew waited until they knew she was in the lower part of the ship, playing with the Octokittens. A task they knew would take her at least an hour, probably longer. The crew gathered into the main part of the ship, with most crowded around the table at the center of the control room while Tim and Ashes guarded the door, necks craned to hear as best they could. Ivy took a deep breath and pressed play.  
“The Bifrost Incident. Any school child could tell you about it. The fall of the old order. Two hundred years of Asgardian hubris come together in a single, Epoch-defying moment. Shoot a locomotive through the stars, and cut the time between worlds from three months to three days. Every high up, nose turning well to do Asgardian Hobnob was on that maiden voyage, so when it didn't come out the other side, whose left to rule? In the chaos that ensued no one thought to ask what happened to the train. And that's where I come in. Inspector Second Class Lyfrassir Edda, New Midgard Transport Police. Because the Ratatosk has finally arrived in Midgard, 80 years too late…”  
***  
They listened to the end, where the recording picked up interfering distress signals abruptly cut off. When it abruptly cut out the room was left in a sullen silence, only broken by Jonny's maniacal laughter.  
“Jonny!” Raphaella hissed,”show at least an ounce of respect, would you?”  
“Oh come on!” he groaned, “the only reason you all aren't doing the exact same thing is because you're worried about Phantomness, which I don't understand.”  
“She's really the only one of us who actually enjoyed her home world,” Ivy responded, “Can't say much in the way of family, but I know Phantomness had friends on there.”  
“Friends that may have been long dead by the time this even happened,” the First Mate countered.  
“Still, she's Midgardian, she knew plenty of Midgardians.”  
“Half-Midgardian.” they all turned to see Phantomness standing in the doorway, “I'm half-Midgardian, half-New French.”  
The masked woman stepped inside the door, making her way to where they all stood.  
“Why did it come up?” she asked, surveying the room. Her eyes landed on the Black Box, “and what's that?”  
“Well Phantomness,” Jonny started, pushing past Brian and Marius, “remember how Ivy, Raphaella, and Marius disappeared for a spell?”  
“If ‘a spell’ is what you call eighty years, then yes.”  
“Jonny.” Ashes warned.  
“Well, they found themselves on New Midgard and-”  
Ashes’ fist made contact with his jaw, knocking the man to the ground.  
“Midgard?” Phantomness's eyes lit up, “why didn't you tell me? How is it there, who did you talk to? God, it's been years since I was there, what all did you find?”  
Ivy and Raphaella avoided her gaze, while Marius decided he would rather help Jonny up than answer her questions.  
“What happened?” Phantomness pressed, “why did it get so quiet all of a sudden? You all are never this quiet.”  
“I'll tell her!” Jonny shouted.  
“NO.”  
“Tell me what?” She asked. Her question was met with silence, “tell me what?”  
“She's bound to find out at some point,” Ashes said, “might as well let it be now.”  
Ivy sighed and nodded, tossing Phantomness the black box.  
“Listen to that. You'll get your answer. I'd say do it in your quarters, or in The Archives if you'd like. You'll want your privacy.”  
Still obviously confused, Phantomness nodded and left to go listen. Jonny started to follow her out.  
“Where are you going?” asked Brian.  
“Out.”  
“Jonny I swear to God if you're going to follow her, I'll put the bullet in your lung myself.” Ashes muttered.  
***  
The bottle crashed against the wall before Phantomness was even aware of what she was doing, shattering into a thousand amber pieces on the cool metal below.  
“FUCKING HELL!” She screamed, nearly drowned out by the screams of the doomed souls that were close to the recording device as Yog Sothoth consumed her home world like a late-afternoon snack. She listened to the screams until the abrupt cutoff into silence, broken by the sobs that wracked her body. She pulled her knife from the sheath strapped to her leg, tracing the archaic patterns carved into the the smooth rainbow of the bismuth. Embla had given her the prized dagger before she left with Carmilla and Jonny, fleeing from everything she knew. Embla had bad the only one of her friends who had supported her leaving the planet, though Phantomness could tell she hadn't been happy about it. The two had spent her last night on New Midgard together, drinking and reminiscing when she had presented her with the gift. Phantomness had promised to keep in touch, but amidst everything that had happened it had slipped her mind. But listening to the recording, of what happened to her home, she sorely wished she'd tried. Embla was probably long dead now, and she hadn't even gotten to say goodbye. Her best friend, her partner in crime, the only person she'd ever loved in her many years of life, ripped from existence by an unforgiving god. The thought tore through her heart like a bullet.  
“Phantomness?” Ashes’ voice came from behind her.  
“Please, not now.” she whimpered, “I just want to be alone.”  
“That's fair.” They replied, “if you need me I'll be down in storage. If you want to, I don't know, talk or something?”  
“Thanks. I don't think I will.”  
She heard the Quartermaster shuffle away. Phantomness dragged herself to a stand before flopping backwards onto her bed, exhaustion washing over her as she stared at the black box.  
“Stupid fucking box,” she growled, whipping unceremoniously across the room. It skittered across the floor, but failed to meet the same fate as her drink.  
“Damn.”  
Phantomness rolled onto her back and stared up at the stars through the glass ceiling. When she finally let the tiredness win and gave into sleep, she dreamt of Midgard, her friends, and of Embla.  
***  
Jonny stretched as he walked into the Aurora’s main room, attempting to shake off the discomfort of lying still in his quarters for the last five hours. Ashes hadn't been lying about the bullet in his lung, and when they found him listening to the screaming of Yog Sothoth’s victims from outside Phantomness's room, there had been lead in his side before he had time to explain himself. Breathing out of one and a half lungs while waiting for it to repair itself never got any easier, but he had no intention of stopping getting on their nerves any time soon. He assumed the rest of the crew would be either asleep off doing their respective jobs when he found Phantomness, staring out the observation window at the planets they passed.  
“Finally deciding to stop moping about your home world?” he asked, laughing at the thought of what he'd heard on the black box. Phantomness didn't respond, just flung the dagger in her hand in his direction without looking. The silver blade whooshed through the air before embedding itself in his stomach. He poked its rainbow handle.  
“Really Phantomness, I just finished regenerating,” he groaned, “are you really going to make me do it again?”  
“I don't care,” the masked woman snarled, grabbing another knife, “I'll use you as fucking target practice.”  
The obsidian blade landed in his shoulder.  
“You know, stabbing me won't bring them back,” he sputtered.  
“It'll make me feel better.”  
She charged at him with yet another dagger in her hand. Jonny grabbed his revolver and fired without aiming. The bullet lodged itself in her leg and Phantomness tumbled to the ground.  
“Enough!” he shouted. The other Mechanisms had come when they heard the gunshot. It wasn't exactly an unfamiliar sound for any for any of them, but shots coming from where they had thought Jonny was alone was disconcerting. Ashes helped Phantomness to her feet, while Marius and Tim pulled her knives out of Jonny.  
“Drop me of.” Phantomness hissed.  
“Where do you want to go?” Brian asked.  
“Somewhere. Anywhere. I don't care. I just don't want to be here anymore. Just find a planet and drop me off.” she ordered as she snatched her knives from Marius, who had wiped the blades clean.  
“How long will you be gone?” Ivy questioned, attempting to stop her. Phantomness shrugged her hand off.  
“Don't know. But it's going to be a while.”  
She stormed out of the room.  
“She wouldn't actually leave for good, would she?” asked Raphaella. Tim shrugged.  
“Who knows with her,” he responded.  
“She's grieving,’ Ivy said, “give her some time.”  
“Is no one going to help the one with multiple stab wounds get back to his quarters so he can regenerate?” Jonny complained.  
“We should've let her throw that last knife before she left.” Ashes grumbled, “come on.”  
***  
Phantomness checked to make sure all of her daggers were in their respective hiding places on her body before going to to step off on whatever planet Brian had decided to leave her on. She met the rest of the crew on the deck. Brian handed her a radio, to call if and when she decided to come back.  
“You'll like Celeste I think,” he said, “good place to get… just about anything really.”  
“Thanks.”  
As she stepped off the ship, Phantomness briefly considered turning back. Jonny may be a bastard, but the others were tolerable. Some she might have even said were likable. And they may all be assholes, but they were the closest things to friends she had. Maybe she could give in. But her rage and grief propelled her forward until she was standing on the smooth white sand of Celeste. Phantomness sighed as she watched The Aurora speed off into the stars. She'd come back to them eventually, but right now she had feelings to grapple with.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a part of big series of oneshots a group of online friends and I made for our Mechanisms OCs, The Absolute Bastards (of the starship Cassandra). My character is Phantomness, a New Midgardian loosely based on the Phantom of the Opera


End file.
